Streams

Obama's World Tour

As Barack Obama’s trip to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe winds down, Josef Joffe, editor and publisher of Die Zeit, a weekly German newspaper, a
fellow at the Hoover Institute and the author of
Uberpower: The Imperial Temptation of America, then
Rami Khouri, editor-at-large at The Daily Star in Lebanon, then
Karen Tumulty, Time national poltical correspondent, discuss the trip.

Guests:

Comments [143]

Mike
from NYC

hjs condescends: "mike first take another hit 2nd a was making fun of people, not u, who would use a word like demagogue, usually held back for people like hitler, refering to BHO. sorry if i hurt u by mistake"

hjs: Maybe you've taken one hit too many and probably of LSD. See your post #129. You quote me and make no comment. Was my remark so brilliant that is was satisfying to simply repeat it? Or did you mean to add a comment and simply spaced out?

hjs,that's an interesting link, thank you for sending it. I started reading it. Maybe you're right to be skeptical about their motives, but it sounds like their goals are reasonable. I will have to follow it more closely. Thanks for clue-ing me in!

which politicians are looking? well I would say if BHO wins there will be investigations and changes to policies but what your talking about is 'not the american way' when one administration ends we won't look back as a nation, it's too painful. we move forward to make the same or similar mistakes in 20 years or so (if we have 20 years left)

conversation over here yesterday was about whether or not any of the money paid out to military contractors can be recovered. question for wnyc listeners today:which politicians are looking at hearings on this enormous ripoff? Shouldn't there be an audit? or was there already an audit and nothing came of it?

Whatever anyone thinks of Obama, it's such a relief to have a presidential candidate who can form complete sentences, and who can speak without some bizarre accent. I've said it before, but recently Bush's accent has morphed to something between T. Boone Pickens and James Brown.I think the reason Obama is so popular in Europe is, yes, people desperately "need" to see a change in the guard so they can like their ally again, but it's also because it's demoralizing for Europeans to have to see an American President who can't speak English as well as they do. I'm not trashing Bush, his lack of articulation is the LEAST of his faults, but... btw, we should all stop worrying about this little thing or that little thing and start demanding prosecution for Halliburton and the other military contractors who've helped bleed us dry.

Jesse Califano [#94]: Few people question John McCain's character. I certainly don't; I'm a Republican who voted for him in the primary. However, they do question his judgment going forward, especially his contention that the surge has worked. Sure the US military adjusted their tactics and violence is down, but the point of the surge was to allow peace so that the Iraqi government could agree on hon autonomous each region would be as opposed to how strong the central government should be and how to divide the oil revenues among the different regions. The different factions within the Iraqi government have not budged an inch to come to an agreement. Nor will they until we leave. That's why I'm voting for Obama. The problems in Iraq are not military and the US army cannot solve them, even if they stay for 100 years.

hjs: You quote me but fail to comment. Yes, words can be defined so broadly that they mean nothing. Think of the word 'racist'. Almost everyone can be called racist for some reason or another, real or imagined, by someone. But if the definition becomes too broad and applies to everyone, then to be called a racist does not distinguish one from another and the word essentially means nothing. The Mirror Man uses 'demagogue' this way. Did you have something to say?

mikemikes says " Think of it this way: If how you define demagogue is absolutely correct, any politican who has ever uttered a statement whose truth could be debated is a demagogue. Everyone who has ever run for office would qualify."

hjs comments: "mike mine says 'obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.' Mccain has no passion (except for hot 2nd model wives) so he can't be a demagogue"

Mirror Man: Wikopedia only qualifies as a starting point and so does the dictionary. Any literate person knows that words have to be taken in context. Wikopedia and 'the dictionary' are things that the illiterate hide behind to avoid substance.

Mirror Man: It's interesting how the dictionary will claim there are synonyms, or words that have the same meanings, yet when you look up synonyms the 23-volume Oxford English Dictionary, each word has a different nuance and very few (if any) identical meanings. Think of it this way: If how you define demagogue is absolutely correct, any politican who has ever uttered a statement whose truth could be debated is a demagogue. Everyone who has ever run for office would qualify. You have changed to meaning of the word so that it signifies nothing. Try to wrap your mind around it.

Mirror Man continues: "In literary circles Oriental means 'Eastern'. Occidental means 'Western'. You race baiters please type in "oriental" into wikipedia and see where it takes you. But what do I know, I'm just a 'typical white person'."

I'm not sure what white has to do with it, but you are not literate. "Orient" does mean "Eastern". But what is "Eastern"? That is east of what? As more of the world became more known and less mysterious, east of what was known continually moved. Again, read Edward Said's "Orientalism". Certainly not a book without flaws, but a book with something to say. Then you will start to be literate. And no; wikopedia does not qualify as anything except a starting point.

1 : a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and FALSE claims and promises IN ORDER TO GAIN POWER.

Consult multiple sources and see how the word is used before you simply blindly apply it. Candidates who gain power by appealing to people's opinions, whether they're based in fact or fiction, in order to winning an election are not demagogues. People who incite a crowd by appealing to emotions to sieze power (think Hitler's failed Putsch, his brown shirts and Crystal Night, the burning of the Reichstag and the blaming the Jews for Germany's economic woes) that is demagogery. Manipulating the Tawana Brawley affair, making false claims about the events of 911 and appealing to false images of falling dominoes, that is borderline demagogy. Appealing to people to move beyond race is, if anything, anti-demagogy.

The astern part of Asia, which is itself a European construct. After all, why should the Ural Mountains separate Europe from 'Asia' other than they're 'not like us'. Oriental was originally a vague term that meant little more than 'largely unknown' and 'exotic' so it could be transferred to wherever the Western imagination desired.

Wouldn't you agree the country is not governed by 1 person but rather a collective of people who inform, back, educate, counsel, and shape our governing body.

McCain had my admiration back in 2000 when he honestly and openly traveled around the US prompting folks to ask him questions. He was screwed by Rove and Co in one of the Carolina's during the primary and then allied himself later with Bush after they helped to get him out of the race. It's been a long 8 years.

the truth asks: "Look in the mirror, so you are against peace? and is Oriental correct? or is it Asian?"

Just an aside: I think oriental originally referred to people from Asia Minor; Turkey, the Middle East and the western Asian subcontinent. (See Said's ground breaking book "Orientalism") Then Oriental referred to eastern Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians); 'Asian' became the polite word for 'Oriental'. However, with so many people now immigrating from the Asian subcontinent, the former Asians are now East Asians as opposed to south Asians (people from India, Pakistan & Bangladesh).

Let's see- on the one hand, we have a freshman U.S. Senator who was a local 'community organizer' in Chicago- with only about 1-1/2 years existence in the Senate and absolutely NO experience in ANYTHING ELSE- But who can deliver a terrific speech (albeit, read from a TelePrompTer-), who is a good looking guy with a degree 'charisma', and who can deliver a 'fist-bump' with his terminally irascible wife. . .

And on the other hand- we have a honest and sincere U.S. Senator who has served the American people for over 25 years- and NEVER wrote an ear-mark expenditure in his term- A serious, thinking man leader with a proven record of leadership in the U.S. Military. . .

So let's see- will America vote in a young charismatic, fist-bumping self-absorbed rock-star to be President. . . OR Senator John McCain, a man of integrity and with experience in governmental service and leadership-

If O-Ba-Ma wins- I suggest that future elections for high government office be conducted by the producers of- AMERICAN IDOL. . . and may the best 'Idol' win!

BORED replies: "@ mike How long our people treated as second classs citizens until they get fed up and fight back."

Until they're all dead, from the looks of it. But I don't blame the Israelis for continuing to fight, either.

There's a lot of blame to go around in the Middle East. The Jews stole a lot of land in 1948. The Europeans felt guilty about the holocaust and did not protest on moral grounds. The Arabs were always abusive toward those not like themselves, even if they happened to live there for thousands of years and their actions after 1948 have left the Israelis little choice for how to continue.

Funny thing about those who think that McCain doesn't get asked any questions about his policy is that one of the suggestions the New York Times gave McCain if he wanted to have space on the op-ed page was that he should start defining what he means by "victory" in Iraq. So there you have it, McCain. The NYT has (indirectly, in this case) asked you a question about policy. I don't want to hear any complaints about the media not asking you anything (unless, of course, your complaint is that you just don't want to answer tough questions anyway).

I do understand the concern that prompts comments like the one Juanna made about Obama being 'fluff'. Obama is a 'blank slate'. Juanna is right. We can't know what will happen once he is elected (and i believe he will be) BUT, if he were a stammering idiot, unable to string thoughts and opinions together and blatantly had no views or convictions, it would be obvious. He's young, but he has such confidence in his eyes. I trust this man.

Steve Mark states: "How extraordinary a sight: An African American standing at or near the very spot where another demagogue once stood in front of hundreds of thousands of people."

A demagogue is an orator who manipulates the emotion of a crowd to incite action, particularly violent & illegal action. Neither Kennedy nor Obama was or is a demagogue. The label applies applies to Sharpton, Reagan and Bush, but not to Kennedy (inciting people to join the Peace Corp?) or Obama (inciting people to move beyond race?)

Apparently it is easy to falsely shame the media into favoring one candidate or anotehr. Let's not forget that when Hillary's camp started in with the same "media bias" theme, the result was the unending Reverend Wright coverage to create balance... Except that I have never seen anything so unbalanced and absurd as the media obsession with Reverend Wright for weeks on end.

I suppose McCain is hoping for a similar tipping of the scales in his favor. Perhaps this whole "Obama cannot admit that the SURGE IS WORKING!" theme will take him into Labor day, while the press ignores his scandalous dearth of knowledge about Shia, Sunnis, Mideast geography, non-existent Eastern European countries, the timeline of the surge and the Anbar Awakening, etc., etc. Maybe McCain is counting on the networks to cover up his nonsensical answers in interviews.

It is funny. One person says, "Don't forget the Israeli walls." That is all they wrote - kind of vague, certainly not hateful.

Then some jihadist using the nom de guerre of Karen appears, spouting all kinds of anti-Arab racist sentiments, blasting all the anti-Israeli people (of which there was only the one comment above). Yet there is nothing there, no Israeli bashing whatsover, just anti-Arab hate coming from Karen. Kind of a nice encapsulation of Israel's behavior in their community, she learned from her master.

obama is running for 'entertainer of the world'. he behaves like he is in a rock group or a circus, and not like a serious man running for POTUS, ready to address the very serious issues this country, with two wars and a terrible economy, healthcare problems, environmental concerns, and the devastation around the world including dafur. But for 'entertainer of the world', he is the best candidate, no one else is best SPEAKING FROM BOTH SIDES OF HIS MOUTH!In just recent months, he has shifted drastically his positions on the same issue numerous times, and on Iraq even called two press conferences to layout two different positions within minutes! The speech he gave at AIPAC was a disgrace on his part, changing his stance several times w/in 24-48 hrs!By the way, more troops and more importance in the war in Afghanistan-was not first emphasized by obama! This has been discussed by numerous experts for years. And yet, the guy who was to oversee in the congress, hearings to improve the conditions, was no other than obama! His response for not holding not one single oversight hearing is that he felt it was more important to run for potus

Hi Megan I mean Karen (I recognize the hate),Don't forget the racist, hateful and greedy Israelis that stole the land by force and built their nation upon deserted Arab towns and villages. And rely on billions of dollars of US $$ to thrive and have no problem getting it since the US Congress is Israeli-controlled territory.

But what does this have to do with Obama - maybe that he is running to be Prime Minister of Israel is you listen to his remarks.

By any reasonable measure, Obama has had a brilliant week, demonstrating -- while under the most intense international scrutiny of his campaign -- a level of engagement and composure that one can only call presidential.

Of course, traditional American media are not reporting this, preferring instead to tell us over and over how "presumptuous" and "arrogant" Obama is.

Why? Because what passes for "balance" in traditional American media is not to call good "good" and bad "bad," but rather to present Americans with a forced equity between liberal and conservative, regardless of the actual record.

This has dictated muted coverage of Obama's week, while the media has essentially ignored the fact that McCain has been a daily gaffe machine.

If Obama had made all the unforced errors this week that McCain has, we'd be hearing about it for weeks.

Khouri(sic) from the Daily Star has it wrong regard Dennis Ross. He's thoughtful and brilliant and has earned his stripes in two admin(Bush I and Clinton). He is like a brilliant physician-if the patient refuses the prescription, they either don't want the help or want to cause trouble. Arafat(aided by Malley)refused the help;perhaps what is really needed are new Arab leaders who are courageous enough to face the Arab street.

I am loathed to agree with you, but I do. I have sensed myself during the early run up to the demo. race a possible doubt on the part of the presenter about Obama's experience. As Obama himself said, in paraphrase, : where did all the 'experience' his peers supposedly had get us as a nation?

I was going to use the example of the Beatles myself. When was the last time the European community admired one of our prospective presidents?

Obama is fluff, that is why he sounds like fluff. And I agree with many points made here -esp. how everyone is projecting their hopes on this blank slate.I personally do not have the patience to listen to him speak; I find myself instantly tuning out and yawning. Fluff, indeed.

Don't forget the racist greedy walls in the minds of Muslim Arabs in Sudan who are slaughtering thousands of Muslim Blacks

Don't forget the racist hateful walls in the minds of the 22 country members of the Arab League who can't seem to find any reason to stop the killing in Sudan.

Don't forget the racist agenda-driven walls of those who exaggerate the Arab terror war on Israel as the greatest "humanitarian crisis" in the world, while the conveniently ignore all the Muslim killing in the world -- because hey, remember the Danish cartoons -- it's a lot easier to criticize Israel.

Enough already! A half hour on this cynical media stunt of a campaign trip? I thought Brian Lehrer that. If I want newz-lite on the presidential horse race I can turn on CNN, etc. Go deeper on this, find a unique angle, or just leave it alone.

#33 - Elisa,He is not stumping worldwide. Allegedly, this was a fact finding trip and the campaign is on hold (I said allegedly). Meanwhile, everyone doubts his experience and foreign policy credentials etc. so this trip will go along way toward addressing that.

As for his 300 million constituents, is not he spending time with them? All we would be doing is watching him on television anyway, whether he is in Baghdad or Boise.

How funny that your screen name ties in so perfectly with your comment! Is anyone more BORING than John McCain? Did you see him standing in the cheese aisle of the grocery store, taking ten minutes to say "It depends on what you mean when you say 'surge'." In the meantime, Obama's attracting a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin.

Interesting that McCain has, for months, been badgering Obama to visit Iraq, and now that he has done so, but apparently not in the manner that McCain wished, he is supposedly being "presumptuous." Does anyone ever call McCain presumptuous for traveling overseas? It's ridiculous.

I think Obama's tour is embarassing. (and he represents my party) He hasn't accomplished anything to merit this tour and his speech in Berlin sounded naive. The world and our country need honest answers and plausible solutions for incredibly complicated problems, the flourishing language is empty and insulting. The truth is, we need so much more, we need substance and depth and answers and laid out solutions.

I thnk GTA[26] has it about right. I for one am growing tired of the vagueness of Obama's speeches and positions. I think there is an anyone but bush reaction in the rest of the world, so even a cauliflower would be a welcome change.

This manufactured issue of the disparate coverage between the candidates is so annoying. First, the media needs to get over itself. As badly as it might want to be, its not the story. And if McCain can't capture our interest through the strength of his policies or personality, so be it. Basic coverage is necessary, extraordinary coverage is earned.

Could you please find a word other than "gaffe" to describe when a candidate says something at odds with someone's take on the "facts." If every slight deviation is marked as a gaffe the whole exercise will become meaningless. This goes for any candidate -- McCain or Obama or anyone. It's quickly becoming so overused no one will pay attention when a candidate says something really significant. Could you please parse the meaning behind the sentences not just the oddity here and there. If the campaign coverage devolves into four months of "gotcha" we, the citizens, will not be well-served.

I think Obama's reception had less to do with his own (rather vague) qualities, and more to do with how little people thought of Bush; most Europeans found him distasteful as very best, most found him ridiculous and deeply malign.

That Europe is gaga over Obama unnerves me. I almost expected him to say, Ich bin ein Beginner. At least that would have been honest. There are people in life who will do or say anything to be popular. Hmmmm.

perhaps it is passing, once he is put into practice the hard prospects of his high ideal will take off the sweet candy shell. in the end everyone here hates bush so the response to the anti bush come to speak to them is fair to liken as a mania

the truth states: ""mania" sounds like a fad, a passing fancy, temporary if you will and this is not that at all."

It might not be a 'mania' as you describe in the US, but it may be a 'mania' in Europe. As the European said, Obama is something of a blank slate onto which the Europeans can project everything they'd like to see in a US President.

I am a NYer living in Paris and to the French I know and in the Media, there is only Obama. I know many people who believed that the race was between Hilary and Obama. The coverage of McCain here is dwarfed by the coverage of the man who is a symbol here of a change of the guard and a turn from an administration that is overwhelmingly unpopular. I have observed that he has the power to alter our currently dismal impression on the rest of the world. I know this is not a newsflash, but I am constantly witnessing the strong opinion here that it is essential for Obama to win.

Brilliant imagery and execution. This guy is a good politician, making the right moves. Meeting world leaders, Petraeus, the masses, looking very much like the center of attention, the luminous star in the room.

Meanwhile on the home front, all McCain can do is attack Obama incessantly - angry and old and bitter. Not good. They were crying about all the media attention Obama's trip got before it even started. He makes gaffe after gaffe, seemingly hanging his old campaign on the alleged success of the surge - lots of luck with that.

I live in berlin my self and i must say that mania is a fair statment. i saw the speech and while the speech was more broad i find that the interesting part was the crowd that was willing to accept all of the parts of the speech that could be taken poorly (i.e. the afganistan section) they love him here and in there eyes there is no one else running.

I am so proud of Obama; just about everything he does (including speaking in Berlin) makes him look like the only real candidate in the election (especially when McCain can't respond without sounding like an old coot).

How extraordinary a sight: An African American standing at or near the very spot where another demagogue once stood in front of hundreds of thousands of people. I hope Obama's rhetoric isn't more demagogery. He certainly has no problem "borrowing" from other great speeches.

One or two well placed jokes will turn this media slow news summer feast into what it obviously is: the "Let's Play President" world tour. I think it's hilarious that McCain is doing a press conference a day from a French Restaurant, an English restaurant, an Italian restaurant, to mirror the "LPP" tour.

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